They Kept Showing Up, for Days
Curated by Tzu-Ying (Naomi) Chan
Artists: Elias Melad, Cheyenne Preston, Kate Strachan
March 9 - March 16, 2022
As Heinrich Zimmer has written, “Symbols hold the mind to truth but are not themselves the truth; hence it is delusory to borrow them. Each civilization, every age, must bring forth its own." In They Kept Showing Up, for Days, this idea is explored, revealing the tensions between common understandings of symbols in the specific context of different cultures, times, and the works of cultural producers, as well as in broader contexts. From written texts to new symbolic imagery, the artists in the exhibition—Kate Strachan, Elias Melad and Cheyenne Preston—offer their own stories to viewers for subjective reinterpretation.
Elias Melad’s new paintings are inspired by his response to musical notes and notation. By distorting notation, Melad arouses an uncertainty in viewers about those symbols and signs, which, ordinarily, have a clear and definite meaning. Despite such destabilization of the notes, we still can visualize what the symbol might represent. Included in this exhibition are four works, En passant (For Pendrecki), Blind Pigs, Slight Return, and Lilt.
Cheyenne Preston's installations are self-explorations of her response to the loss of control. They developed from the process of refusing to be bold for the sake of boldness alone, and to express a self that originated from within the self, not from external influences. By using raw canvas, sewn canvas, pen, sharpie, acrylic, and silkscreen prints, Preston creates a bridge between the facade that language and text may project and intimations of a more authentic selfhood.
Kate Strachan’s work is deeply engaged by the material presence of materials—in her case, of ceramic, felt, wood, and wax, which evoke a sense of intimate, silent study. Her practice is grounded in the German Lutheran immigrant community in Pennsylvania in which she was raised. Lutheranism is a word-based faith; therefore, the symbolic weight of words are given deep resonance in her work’s expression of identity. They Kept Showing Up, for Days includes two installations, Mad & Sad and As You Are, each of which entangles the power of her materials with the symbolic weight of specific words as a way of getting at the complexities of interpersonal relationships.